


Establishments

by Magpied_Spider



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, Gen, typical John Winchester abandonment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 06:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1888302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpied_Spider/pseuds/Magpied_Spider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at the settling of Sam and Dean's respective dæmons.</p><p>“Take care of your brother,” John had said, and left without another word.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Establishments

“Take care of your brother,” John had said, and left without another word. He and Heibet were chasing down something called a Shtriga, and had, as usual, left him and Sandi to take care of Sam and Tio.

It’s not as if it were difficult, get them to school, get them back to the motel, don’t leave them alone. Really.

But after a week and a half, there were only so many times he could play “Lyra and the Lost Tomb of Userkaf” and having to make up excuses as to why Dad wasn’t back yet (especially when he said he’d only be a few days), before the two of them lost their mind.

Dean loved his little brother, but there were moments when he and Sandi really felt they could do without him.

“Under no circumstances, “ Heibet had growled, “are you to leave your younger brother alone.”

But you know what? Sam was eight years old: old enough to be able to sleep unsupervised, in a locked room, for twenty minutes or however long it would take Dean and Sandi to go and find something to make the motel room slightly less boring.

The guy at the counter’s hawk-dæmon hadn’t taken her eyes off them, but Dean had a bit of money left, and figured that he could get a colouring book for Sam and Tio, and maybe a puzzle book of some kind for himself.

After paying, he walked back to the motel with a spring in his step, Otsandi changing shape every bounce, keys jangling in his pocket, wondering what Sam’s reaction would be to the surprise in the morning.

They were probably gone about ten minutes, maybe fifteen, but as soon as they got into the parking lot of the motel, they could sense something was wrong.

Otsandi, who from her latest spring was a mountain lion, started running towards the room they were staying in, (where Sam was sleeping, please, God, let him be ok), Dean hot on her heels.

The door takes near-no time to open, but that’s still too long, because there’s something _sucking at Tio_ and Sam’s just lying on the bed and-

Dean goes to grab the shotgun, but Otsandi’s already there, teeth and claws ripping at the thing, changing forms lightning-quick and it’s when she’s got a ruff of fur and sharp teeth that can _bite_ that the whatever-it-is starts to look as if it’s being affected.

The door slams open and John is back (thank God), and Dean manages to send a warning to Otsandi, whose wolf-body dived to cover Sam’s body as John pulled the trigger and send some rounds of the shotgun pellets into the monster.

John’s fury that night was something the likes of which Dean had never seen ( _and for good reason_ , his own brain supplied him with, _Sam could have died if you’d been even a few seconds later_ ), so in between the “Yes sir,” and “No sir,” and “We understand, sir,” it was unsurprising that neither Dean, John, nor Sam, noticed that Sandi hadn’t changed shape since the fight.

 

**Part 2:**

“What have we done, Heibet? What have we done to our son?”

"What's done is done, John. Nothing we can do now."

 

**Part 3:**

To an adult, a child with a wolf-dæmon is a worrying sign. In this day and age, It’s a sign of something not right: no child should feel that they must become this fierce and protective; no child should need to arm themselves against the world. A wolf is the dæmon of a warrior, a warrior of old, one that would lead a charge and slaughter their enemy with a knife because their sword has been lost in the chest of their last kill. A child with a wolf-dæmon is a child that you send to the counselor, because _something_ must have happened that left deep scars on their mind.

Sam is a child, and the only thing that he understands is that Sandi has settled, and she is a wolf, and she’s fluffy and awesome. When Dad’s out (which is always, let’s be honest) Tio shifts into a wolf, just for a try. His fur doesn’t feel as soft and warm and comforting as Sandi, but it’s not a bad substitute.

“What the _hell_ are you doing, Sammy?”

Dean looks frightened, and a bit angry. Tio shifts back to a fluffy cat, and Sam looks at his brother in confusion. Dean sighs, making a face.

“It’s… look, Sammy, lots of people in the world think that having a wolf as a dæmon means that you’re… that there’s something not right.”

“But Sandi’s a wolf, and you’re fine.”

Dean smiled at his brother. “Yeah, but think about it. If Tio settled as a wolf, then we’d have two wolves in the family, and people would get them mixed up.”

“Plus I can’t really see all that well,” added the wolf in question. “So you probably shouldn’t settle as a wolf.”

“Your dæmon shows fundamental aspects of your personality,” said Sam, “That's what Ms Picker said at school. So... having a wolf just means that you’re brave, and you love your family, and you get into fights sometimes. Why would that be a bad thing?”

“The whole ‘getting into fights’ thing means that I spend about as much time at the guidance councillor as in class, even when we _haven’t_ done anything. It’s a bit more trouble than it’s worth. Plus she takes up so much room in the Impala.”

Sam laughed at that. It was true: after Otsandi had settled Heibet had to stay in the front with John and Sandi spread across both of their legs, Tio staying something small, because Dean refused to leave her to run behind them.

Tio-as-a-cat padded up to Dean, rubbing against his leg. “I didn’t really like it anyway,” he said. “Too…. I dunno. Too something. Toothy, maybe.”

Dean gave him a pat and pushed him with his leg towards Sam. “Yeah, well. You two probably don’t have to worry about settling for a while.”

“I still don’t get why you’d want to stay one shape, though,” remarked Sam. “It’s so much fun to fly around, or go riding as a horse.”

“What about that time I turned into a reindeer and we rampaged through the forest?”

“Yeah! That was hilarious, Tio.”

“Yeah,” interrupted Dean, “ _Hilarious_ for us and Dad when we had to go looking through a forest in the middle of the night because you two had gotten lost.”

The younger boy and his dæmon ducked their heads in memory of the lecture they’d gotten. Dean clapped them on the head, and turned to the stove, set on cooking some meat. “Dinner in ten, go wash your hands, and for god’s sake, Tio, don’t start that whole ‘let’s see how fast I can change shapes’ thing again, not after you sprained your hoof.”

 

**Part 4:**

They’re watching a documentary about the migratory paths of moose when Sam casually mentions that probably 60% of their class have settled dæmons. There’s almost a size limit, he adds, it’s weird. No one really has a dæmon larger than a dog – Otsandi is the biggest they’ve ever seen in real life by far.

There are plenty of reports of farmers with horse dæmons, or historical figures with lions, but in everyday life, no one really has anything bigger than a Labrador. In fact, Tio notes, it seems that a lot of dæmons actually _can’t_ take large forms. They’d have competitions sometimes, in the school yard, seeing who could get the biggest dæmon. Tio would often turn into a reindeer, or a Clydesdale horse, and no one would go bigger. Sam had always just assumed that everyone lacked the imagination or memory to go for larger mammals, but now he wondered…

“Have you ever heard of someone with a moose dæmon?” He asked aloud. “I mean, it would be a bit inconvenient having to get through doors…”

“It wouldn’t be too bad, if you could get that big. I mean, meese are pretty cool.”

“They’re not meese, dimwit.”

“It sounds like it should be,” replied the dæmon.

“It’s… it’s because the word ‘moose’ came into the language from one of the Skræling languages, which was hundreds of years _after_ English had all the plurals with vowel changes that came from the Germanic languages. So the plural’s just ‘moose’.”

“I know. I learned it at the same time as you. I actually _am_ you, in case you forgot, doofus.”

Same made an expression that if Dean were here would be called “bitchface number eight”.

Dean and Sam were out in the parking lot later, on the way to the store, with some of the money that Dad left when Tio decided to try out a moose form to see if a) he could do it, and b) if it was actually any good. Midway through shaking each of his newly-hoofed feet and tossing his antlers to see how big they were, with Sandi laughing all the way, they were attacked by a nest of vampyres, presumably the nest that their father had been hunting for the whole week.

It turned out that moose legs can kick really well, and really hard, and that when they get running, those antlers pack a punch. Tio must have killed at least one vamp’s dæmon with a kick, and knocked three others senseless.

“Wow. That’s… I was not expecting that,” said Dean. Otsandi laughed.

“I _like_ this form,” said Tio.

“Great,” said Sam, “but there’s Pizza waiting to be picked up.”

As they made their way there, Sam sent a thought along the lines of _it’ll be difficult for you to fit under the ceiling with those antlers, smartass_ , and by the time they had gotten there, it had devolved into _oh my god just change into something that will fit through the door, Jesus._

Tio didn’t fit though the door, and it was decided between them that, rather than freaking everyone out with a dæmonless child, Sam and Tio would wait outside.

“So… we staying like this?”

“Ah-yup.”

“Cool. How are we getting to school?”

“I’m sure that I can walk.”

“What, trot alongside the Impala? Or chase the school bus? Or I could what, ride you?”

“There’s an idea.”

“Pretty sure moose can’t be ridden.”

“Pretty sure the only difficulty with riding meese is that they’re not domesticated.”

Sam sighed, and shrugged. “Well, it’s pretty cool. I wonder what having a moose says about us?”

“Probably that we’re alright with having half of ourselves not fit into a doorway. Anyway, I could just run cross-country when we’re going to the next town. It’ll actually mean that there’s more room in the car than usual.”

Sam snorted at that. “We could always tie you to the roof, I guess.”

“I’d get bugs in my eyes.”

“Well, that’s your fault for settling as a freaking _moose_ , Tio. Seriously?”

At this point, a wolf-dæmon emerged from the pizza place, carrying a bag of drinks in her mouth, followed by Dean, carrying the pizza box. “So, you’re settled as a moose? I think that’s a world first.”

“Pay up, Dean,” said the amused voice of his dæmon, speaking through the plastic bag. “I said he’d settle as something unexpected. He’s never been a moose before.”

“How the hell do you make a bet with your dæmon?”

“I owe her a steak now. Shut up. Let’s go.”

They began the walk back to their motel.

“Hey, Tio, could we hang these bags off your antlers?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Illustration of outside-the-pizza-place located http://daemonverse-spn.tumblr.com/post/90614090895/magpied-spider-caption-as-they-made-their-way


End file.
